We've all been faced with that inevitable moment of closing the book we've been devouring, then looking up at our to-be-read shelf and not knowing where to go next.

I hope to cut that time wasted blubbering at your books with a few tips on how to choose your next read.

1. Trust Your Eyes

When you glance up at your bookshelf, where do your eyes linger? Or when you are scrolling through bookstagram, what book keeps popping into your feed and intriguing you? If a book is constantly catching your eye, chances are your brain is subconsciously choosing that book as your next read.​ So, glance up at your shelves right now. Which one is calling to you?

2. TBR Jar

Yes, they are the things that you've seen on Tumblr, and yes, you are cool enough to have one. All you have to do is find an empty can or jar somewhere around your house , cut out a bunch of small slips of paper and write down the books you own that you haven't read or books you've been aching to check out/buy. You can even get a little creative and decorate your jar if you want, make an afternoon of it(:

Once you've made your jar, all you have to do is stick your hand in the jar, pull out a slip and bam! Your problem is solved.

3. Ask

If you really can't make a decision, have someone else make it for you.​Send the books you're deciding between to a friend, family member, or even me! They'll either choose one they've read and loved or not know any of them and most likely pick the one with the prettiest cover.

​ Either way, your decision is made.

4. Don't Read

WHAT!? Calm down, calm down. If absolutely nothing is catching your eye, and you ask your friends what to read and their suggestions just aren't appealing to you, don't read.Create your own thing to read, write. Write about your day, write about the day you wish you had, write about the old man who lives down the street, write about that trail in the forest you've been too scared to go down, write about what could've happened that time you said no, write about the meaning behind your favorite song. The possibilities are endless, and you might even have fun.

5. Well...

To be honest, I don't have a fifth tip right now, but I absolutely cannot do anything that leaves off with the number four. So, if I do think of a fifth tip eventually I'll add it here. In the mean time, this'll just be an awkward space that we won't talk about. Okay? Okay.

​I hope these tips have helped (:

-Paige Jones. xx

People's number one excuse for not reading on a regular basis is that they "don't have enough time to read". Now, sure, that's a valid excuse if every single second of your day is spent either working, going to school, studying, playing sports, or doing chores. That means from the time you wake up in the morning to the time that you fall to your bed completely exhausted from your day, you have absolutely no spare time to pick up your book or ereader. And that repeats for every single day in your week. Now, I may be wrong, but I'm sure that at some point you had time. But instead of using that time to read a couple of pages (or maybe even chapters) in the book you're reading, you decided to lounge lazily across your couch to watch some TV. Or you used that time to call your friends to have a chat, or you used that time to listen to the new album you just bought.

If you aren't a fan of reading, then that is totally fine. But if you are like me (well maybe not as obsessed as me, but you get what I am saying) then you want to make some kind of dent in reading a portion of the one hundred and twenty nine million books that have been published. And if you want to do that, dare I say, you're going to have to spend time reading. I know, I know, shocking.

As I am going into high school this year, and taking some of the hardest classes a freshman can take, and hoping to make the school's field hockey team, and planning on running this blog I am already stressing over ways that I will be able to work reading into my life. After talking to a fellow bibliophile about this she told me that reading even a chapter a month would be an accomplishment. Now, I don't know about you but I usually read at least four books a month so this transition is just too much of a sacrifice for me. So the question is, how do us readers make time to read? How will we be able to continue doing something that we love when our lives are becoming busy as the school year begins?

Here are some tips I have come up with:

Set A Designated Time For Reading

Find a time that will work for your schedule that you can set aside for reading. If you have a time, and you actually read during that time consistently then you will get used to doing it and each day you will have at least that time to read. Now finding the time can be tricky, if you get home from school at 3:00 p.m. and have to start getting ready for basketball practice at 3:35, then voila! You have those thirty-five minutes to read. It doesn't have to be a two hour reading slot that consumes all of your time, it doesn't even have to be five minutes long (although it is preferable to have more than this amount of time to read) it's just a small (or long) period of time that you can use to escape in the world of your book.

Always Carry Your Book With You

Now, I don't know about you, but I bring my book with me everywhere. Whether that be field hockey practice, school, my vacations (yes I carried it around in my purse everywhere when I was in Germany & Austria), the movie theatre, going out to dinner, and anywhere else you can think of. You never know when you might have a minute or two to sit down and enjoy your book. For example, if you're meeting a friend at the movie theatre and you get there several minutes before them, find a bench (or just sit on the floor) and pull your book out. If you get to your math class before the bell rings, read the next couple of pages. When there is a wait to be seated at your favorite restaurant, well... I think you get the idea. If you're worried that you might look 'weird' pulling out your book at a restaurant, or a theatre, or before your classes, don't. Nobody really cares. By reading, you're not making noise (unless it's an emotional part), and you aren't disrupting anyone so... who honestly cares? The jerk that sits in the back of your class with his posse? Whatever, ignore them and get your read on. (:

Listen To AudioBooks

Some of you who are like me and are visual learners, and can't really handle audio books, then that is totally fine. You don't need to read about this tip. But if you aren't like me and you like to be able to hear things, then continue on.

Audio books can be very useful in getting some reading into your day. If you drive, you can listen to your audio book as you go to work, or practice, or school, or whatever. Or if you're out in the sun and it's too bright to see your book, then you can plug in some earphones and listen to your book. If at night, you're too tired to try and hold a book up and have your eyes open to read the words, you can just listen to someone speak them to you. Also, if you're a person who cannot read certain fonts or font sizes and you really want to read a certain book that has a font you cannot read, then buying the audio version of that book is the perfect option for you.

Read a Book You Really Want to Read

This might sound a little weird to you, why wouldn't you want to read the book that you chose to start reading? But I have found, that the more interested you are in what is happening in the book and the more taken you are by the characters in the book, the more time you spend reading. I'm sure you have experienced this before, how long does it take you to read a classic you are assigned to read versus a book that instantly captivated you since the moment you read the synopsis in the book store? That's what I thought. The other day, I read "Maybe, Someday" by Colleen Hoover in one day, but I am still stuck on "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie that I started three days ago. The reason for this? I was more interested in the characters in "Maybe, Someday" than I am with the characters in "Peter Pan". If a book isn't interesting enough for you after at least seventy-five pages then I would set it aside for now, while you have a busy schedule, and pick up a book that you would enjoy more. Some people don't like to do this, but there is honestly nothing wrong with it. I have at least five books that are half read up stairs amidst my book pile.

Set Reading As Rewards For Yourself

If you have a killer essay due for English, set places in your essay development where you will reward yourself with reading. For example, after completing two paragraphs you're allowed to read ten pages in your book, after another three paragraphs you can read an additional ten pages in your book, and so on. If you think you will get to distracted by what is happening in your book, then save the reward until the end. When you finish your essay, you can read two chapters. Knowing yourself, you might be concerned that you will rush through your essay to get to reading. If this is the case, say that you get to read a certain amount of pages for getting the grade you're aiming for. This will, hopefully, cause you to want to work hard at your essay to get a good grade so you can finish your book.

Wake Up Earlier or Go to Sleep Later

People who need their sleep to function, disregard this tip. If you are a bibliophile, you know the hours you spent finishing a book to the early hours of morning. You know the sleepless nights spent lost in another world. You know how sleep deprived you get during a week long ReadAThon. This is not what I am suggesting you do. I am saying, maybe, wake up fifteen minutes earlier than you usually do so you have time to read while you're eating breakfast. Or staying up a bit later than usual reading at night. As I said, you don't have to go full on bibliophile with this as you will probably need your sleep to function (especially with school starting). Just a couple extra minutes that you usually spend sleeping, reading. Reading before bed helps you sleep better as well. (:

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Those are all the tips I am going to type up for now, I hope that I helped you out and you can use at least one of these tips to build time into your schedule to read. This is a little different from the posts that I usually have on here, and a little lengthier I imagine. So I hope you enjoyed this new kind of post and happy reading. (: